By Aws Al-Sharqy, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, April 7 (IslamOnline.net) – As the Iraqi Governing Council Wednesday, April 7, urged investigations into the American military use of "deliberate" force against civilians, the Iraqi Jurists Association said the arrest warrant against Shiite leader Muqtada Sadr is "illegal and based on a lie".

"The arrest warrant is illegal and incorrect, as the occupation forces issued it in disregard for sovereignty of Iraq's justice system," the Association said in a statement a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net.

A U.S. military spokesman said two days ago the warrant had been issued "in the last several months" by an Iraqi judge investigating last April's murder of a pro-Western Shiite leader one year ago.

"What justice are you talking about? You have dismissed 170 justices of their offices and violated the independence of justice here," read the statement.

Iraqi Minister of Justice Abdel-Rahim Al-Shibly had told national press that he had not been aware of the arrest warrant against Sadr.

Sadr is known for his fiery speeches against U.S. occupation forces, calling for the continuum of resistance operations until ejecting them out of the oil-rich country.

U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer had called Sadr an "outlaw", drawing counter-accusations from the Shiite leader's aides.

"If he means that Sayed Moqtada is an outlaw according to Sharia (Islamic law) and the laws we know, then Bremer knows nothing about these laws and it is he who violates these laws," said one aid.

"We reject all kinds of occupation and hegemony. Everything is going to be changed," he added.

Sadr said Tuesday, April 6, he ended his sit-in at a mosque in Kufa and traveled to the holy city of An-Najaf to prevent "more bloodshed".

'Unjustified'

In another related development, a number of the IGC members voiced outrage over the use of "unjustified" force against Iraqi civilians during the last four days.   

Member Abdel-Karim Al-Mahmadawy threatened to resign if the U.S. occupation forces did not pull out of areas they are sealing off.

"There should be an investigation into force used by occupation forces against unarmed civilians," Mahmadawy said.

At least 52 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed and some 100 others injured overnight in continued American bombardment of densely-populated areas in the besieged town of Fallujah.

The town had been sealed off at dawn Monday and U.S. troops were only letting cars with Fallujah license plates enter or leave the town.

Fallujah residents appealed to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the international community to intervene and end the crippling U.S. blockade.

The U.S. occupation commanders have vowed a painful response after Iraqis killed four American security contractors in the city on Wednesday, March 31.

An Iraqi mob afterwards dragged their corpses through the streets and hanged two of them from a bridge in scenes that showed the depth of anti-occupation sentiment in the conflictive city. 

Occupation forces also "deliberately used force and opened fire on peaceful demonstrators," said another council member, Ragaa Al-Khazey.

Shiite scholars have warned that U.S. troops of acting "irrationally" after up to 52 Iraqi protesters were killed on Sunday, April 4, in the worst confrontations between Iraq’s Shiite majority and the U.S.-led occupation troops sine the start of the invasion one year ago.

The protesters were denouncing the crushing of two fellowmen by a U.S. tank on Saturday, April 3, the arrest of Sadr’s top assistant Sheikh Mostafa Al-Yaqoubi and a ban on Al-Hawza newspaper, Sadr’s mouthpiece.

"We deem those fallen dead at the hands of occupation forces martyrs," said Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Hakim said he had earlier warned against "closing papers and muzzling" people in the country.

The offensive on Fallujah coincided with deadly clashes between Shiites and U.S.-led occupation troops across the country, which killed at least 100 people and injured some 400 others.

'Military Solution'

Also Wednesday, the Islamic scholars association – the highest religious authority in the country, lashed out at the occupation forces.

"They insist on enforcing a military solution as if they are in facing an enemy in battleground not isolated civilians," Harith Al-Dari, the council's secretary general, said in a press conference.

"Occupation forces want to wreck havoc all over Iraq," Dari said. 

A member of the council said at the opening of the conference that "Iraqis have waken up and realized conspiracies contrived against them".

"Ordinary people were killed, hospitals were paralyzed and mosques demolished by those criminal atheists," he said.